Heatwaves scorched their harvests. Now, these farmers are saving Nigeria’s Yam Belt

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In 2024, communities in northern Nigeria saw temperatures hit a record of over 40°C. During the time, farmers like Alpha Shonvo in Kakulu, a village neighbouring Duka-Yakoko, lost over ₦400,000 after about 1,000 yam seedlings from his farm were ruined by both severe heatwaves and drought.

But in late 2025, to save their crops, Vozankavi and other farmers across several Zing communities turned to a practice which involves covering their yam ridges with dried grasses and pinning them down with sand to prevent the wind from blowing them away.

The approach, Vozankavi explained, protects the buried seedlings from the direct hit of the sun and keeps the soil cool enough for the yams to survive.

“We didn’t learn it from anywhere. We just tried it and realised it worked,” Vozankavi told Social Voices, while requesting that neither he nor his farm be photographed.

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